OMG! What!? -- "One in five teenagers report no texting and no online social networking at all."

[HuckleB]

Yeah, OK. So that's not really what this story/study is about, but it is what I found to be most interesting.

Behavior: Too Much Texting Is Linked to Other Problems
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/health/research/16behavior.html

"A new study suggests that the high school students who spend the most time texting or on social network sites (or both) are at risk for a host of worrisome behaviors, including smoking, depression, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, and absenteeism.

The study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University, presented Tuesday at a meeting of the American Public Health Association in Denver, is based on data from questions posed last year to more than 4,000 students at 20 urban high schools in Ohio. About one-fifth sent at least 120 text messages a day, one-tenth were on social networks for three hours or more, and 4 percent did both.

That 4 percent were at twice the risk of nonusers for fighting, smoking, binge drinking, becoming cyber victims, thinking about suicide, missing school and dozing off in class.

The researchers emphasized that texting and social networking did not necessarily cause the other problems.

..."


So, deep in the small piece, they acknowledge that correlation is not causation. Of course the next paragraph has the researcher offering up speculation that the actual research cannot support, but nonetheless.

... Again ...

Seriously? One in five teenagers never texts and never participates in online social networking? WOW!

;)

:beer:

[BrklynLiberal]

1. That 20% is 100% Amish or Hassidic.

[HuckleB]

7. Amish population is about 250,000.

I don't think the Hasidic population could be much more than that. So... Uh, well.

[maxsolomon]

2. 1 in 5 teenagers is too poor to have a mobile phone or internet access

more than likely.

[HuckleB]

5. That might be part of it...

[ejpoeta]

3. sounds like an epidemic. 1 in 5??? i thought it would be more. to hear my 11 year old tell it

EVERYONE HAS A CELL PHONE!! and many of the ones i have seen seem to. as to texting? probably not as many. though now that for a fee you can meter how much a kid can do, it still seems scary. we are considering getting a cell for our 11 year old, but probably won't allow texting or anything else except talking. i don't want to get her something just because EVERYONE ELSE DOES!! but because it might be necessary for her. so far she hasn't seemed to need it. but we don't have a landline phone. just magicjack connected to the computer.

[HuckleB]

8. Need is always relative, of course.

[Dappleganger]

4. I thought violet video games and rock and roll was to blame.

:sarcasm:

[HuckleB]

6. Those violet video games lead to an epidemic of napping the afternoon away in some park meadow.

Very dangerous.

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

[Dappleganger]

9. Quick, give me an N...

my mac is plotting against me tonight.

:evilgrin: